In sports such as football and soccer, speed and maneuverability are desirable skills. Properly designed athletic footwear can assist a player in enhancing those skills. The article of footwear should provide support to areas of the foot that need support, comfort to areas of the foot that need cushioning, flexibility to areas of the foot that need flexibility, and effective power transfer to areas of the foot where such power transfer will provide the most benefit to the wearer.
Conventional shoes manufactured for football and soccer have a stiff plastic outsole upon which studs, or cleats, are either integrally formed or attached. One method whereby desirable properties are optimized in one shoe is to manufacture an outsole with varying thickness and/or hardness (i.e., durometer), thus providing a shoe that provides comfort, support, flexibility, and power transfer to the parts of the shoe that most benefit from these properties; however, manufacturing a traditional molded outsole with variable thickness and hardness is difficult and expensive.